The Primary Offering (Leviticus 2:1-3).
‘And when a person (nephesh) offers an oblation of a grain-offering to Yahweh, his oblation shall be of milled grain; and he shall pour oil on it, and put frankincense on it, and he shall bring it to Aaron's sons the priests, and he shall take out of it his handful of its milled grain, and of its oil, with all its frankincense, and the priest shall burn it as its memorial on the altar, an offering made by fire, of a pleasing odour to Yahweh.'
The bringing of a grain-offering was to be of milled grain, not just the bare grain but the grain as worked on by man. It thus had ‘added value'. It was mixed with olive oil to make it more edible and pleasant, but the oil in itself was an important product in its own right. Frankincense was not something to add to its edibility but was offered in worship, a valuable and sweet-smelling direct offering. Thus God was being offered a portion of men's produce in the grain, together with their work in preparing it, as made edible through another product, olive oil (compare ‘one cake of oiled bread' - Exodus 29:23), which was also man's produce. A proportion would then be extracted by the priest, together with all the frankincense, a costly and sweet smelling addition. That was Yahweh's portion and was offered by fire to Him as a ‘memorial', something that reminded God of the worshippers and of their offering. It was a fire-offering and a pleasing odour to Yahweh.
Frankincense was a whitish yellow resin which was obtained by incising the bark of the Boswellia tree in the semi-desert mountains around Dhotar in Southern Arabia (compare Jeremiah 6:20) and had a strong sweet odour. It was a constituent in the holy anointing oil (Exodus 30:34), and was placed in purified form on the Shewbread (Leviticus 24:7). It was costly and regularly used in worship (Jeremiah 17:26; Jeremiah 41:5), a precious offering to God. It was widely traded by Arab traders. It was not edible, which was why the whole was offered to Yahweh and none available to the priests. This clearly demonstrates that there was no idea in all this that Yahweh actually partook of the offerings. He would not eat frankincense! He smelled it.
Part of the thought behind the frankincense, apart from the fact that it was precious, was probably that it had been obtained at great effort. It had been brought from a long way away in order to give pleasure to Yahweh. It was very much a product from outside. We may see this as indicating that Israel must also offer to Him tribute from the world as well as from their own products, or as pointing to Christ Who came from ‘outside' as One who was of great value, so that He might be offered to God on our behalf as a pleasing odour.
So the idea behind the offering was of gratitude for prosperity and an acknowledgement of God's provision, revealed in tribute given, and worship and love offered. Milled grain was basic to their diet and an important commodity. It was as their lifeblood. Olive oil was also important in the life of Israel. It was later a prominent export (Ezekiel 27:17; 2 Chronicles 2:10) and was used in paying tribute and making treaties (Hosea 12:1; Isaiah 57:9). Along with milled grain and honey it was a symbol of prosperity (Ezekiel 16:13; Jeremiah 41:8). It was often sometimes offered by itself in worship (Genesis 28:18; Genesis 35:14; Micah 6:7; Ezekiel 45:25; Ezekiel 46:15). In contrast the grain offering offered by the poor as a replacement sin offering specifically had no oil or frankincense on it precisely because it was a sin offering (Leviticus 5:11). Thus the oil and frankincense were more positively related to love and worship. Isaiah 61:3 can speak of the ‘oil of joy', and men and women anointed themselves with oil when they were joyful (compare Micah 6:15; Psalms 45:7; Psalms 104:15).
‘And what is left of the grain-offering shall be Aaron's and his sons'. It is a thing most holy of the offerings of Yahweh made by fire.'
The remainder of the grain-offering was for Aaron and his sons. But the value that God placed on it is indicated by the fact that it was ‘most holy'. It must therefore be eaten, in a holy place, in the tabernacle. It was looked on as an important offering of great sanctity.
Some have seen in the offering of milled grain and oil a reminder of Jesus as the bread of life (John 6:35) and as the anointed One (‘Christos'), and the frankincense as the symbol of His Godhood, come from outside in order to perfect our offering to God. Thus are we to ‘offer up' Jesus to God as our offering, that we might be acceptable to God, and offer our praise and thanksgiving through Him. And we are to see Him as provided by God that He might be partaken of by all Who are set apart as His. For having ‘offered Him up' we can then partake of Him. It is also an indication that all that is most important to us, including our labour, should be given to Him.
Note On ‘Most Holy'.
Holiness was a religious concept. Its main idea was of that of setting things and people apart to a holy purpose. They then became ‘holy' and were not to be trifled with because they belonged to deity. In its wider use it did not signify morality, for the sacred prostitutes of other religions were called ‘holy ones', and physical items in the temples could be described as ‘holy' because religiously set apart for divine use. But the God of Israel was partly distinguished by His moral requirements. And thus one ‘set apart to Him' was inevitably required to be morally holy as well as religiously holy. Yahweh was the living, moral, powerful God of Israel. In that He was distinguished from all others. And thus with Him holiness necessarily included God-like morality.
Everything then that was deeply involved with God became holy with various degrees of holiness. They were set apart to Him, were His property, and because they in some way represented Him were to be treated as He was to be treated. We know today how easily people can begin to see religious things as ‘holy' (holy water, holy icons and so on, and even the Holy Bible) and assume they have special powers, it would therefore not be surprising if that were also true in those days, but that is not the essence of holiness. The essence of holiness is that when dealing with such things one is dealing with God, and thus that to trifle with them is to trifle with God. How that is then considered by the individual will very much depend on individual conceptions.
So every offering and sacrifice was holy, and all that pertained to the tabernacle was holy, and they therefore had to be treated for what they were, items through which God dealt with man. But when something was said to be ‘most holy' it was restricted to the tabernacle. It must not be taken out into the camp. It was exclusively for tabernacle use. Thus this grain offering, in as far as it was not actually offered on the fire on the altar, had to be retained in the tabernacle and could only be eaten by those who were most holy, the priests. They could absorb its holiness for they were equally ‘holy'. Israel were a holy nation (Exodus 19:6) because they were set apart to God as His own, but the priests had been especially set apart out of the holy nation to a state of special holiness which required special behaviour of them. They were to be totally devoted to Yahweh and His service. They were most holy.
But holiness depends very much on motive and purpose. The Peace sacrifices could be partaken of by the offerer because of the motive and purpose of them, while the whole burnt offerings and the purification for sin offerings could not.
End of note.